Posted Saturday Evening 3/10/2007

It is with great sadness I let you know this afternoon Ciara, (pronounced Kira, named after an Irish barmaid) Raykist Irish Mist CD, went to the Bridge...She would have been 13 yrs old May 17th. For the past several months she had slowed down, but we attributed that to old age. She had a great appetite (loved to eat and would eat anything) up until two days ago, when she quit eating...Nothing (canned food, chicken, hot dog, cheese) tempted her...She would drink water, but would vomit it up. We took her to the vet yesterday, but our vet couldn't find anything outwardly wrong. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and antinausea medication. We were hoping she would improve over the weekend. This morning it was clear her body was shutting down and she was in distress. We brought her back into the vet. An x-ray showed a large mass in her abdomen. At that point we made the painful decision to let her go.

All of Ciara's adult life she was very healthy and up until a year ago she could keep up with our younger ones in retrieving tennis balls and running while I biked. She definitely could out-swim them. She was very vocal and loved to talk. I know I got points off in Novice A because of her barking at me. She was one of the best problem solvers and intelligent dogs I have known. I am sure Seamus and Schatzie met her at the Bridge and soon Ciara will be back to bossing Seamus around.